A Healing Heart (9 page)

Our boat arrived to take us through the waters of pirates, treasures, and battles. I worried a bit about the darkness on the ride and hoped the kids wouldn’t get scared. Lacey was a little unsure of the drops, but Riley was fascinated, and after the ride was over, he spent most of the afternoon singing “yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me!”

After pirates, we explored Tarzan’s Treehouse and the Jungle Cruise. When we finally walked out of Adventureland, Lacey’s little feet were getting tired, and Collin had been carrying her the last little bit, so we decided to rent her a stroller. Riley had already fallen asleep, and I was pretty sure Lacey would not be far behind, and sure enough, she hadn’t been in the stroller more than ten minutes before she was fast asleep.

Eileen suggested that Collin and I hit some of the other rides while the kids were sleeping. The Matterhorn was first on our list; we found the end of the line and slowly began moving our way around the mountain. As we walked, Collin snagged my hand and interlinked it with his own.
“So, I have to ask, what’s the story on Eileen?”

“
You mean her background?”

“
Yeah, how’d you meet her, that kind of thing.”

“
Her husband was in the military and was killed overseas a little over two years ago. He never got to meet Riley. She grew up in Riverview, and after her husband was killed, she moved back to be near family and friends. Riley was only three months old at the time.”

“
Wow, that had to have been hard.”

“
Yeah, my aunt and Eileen have been friends for years. After Eileen moved back, she needed a baby-sitter and I was available. I had just moved down here, and it worked out well. Eileen and I both were suffering over our losses. My being with her and Riley helped both of us. Baby-sitting helped keep me occupied, and Riley has been so much fun. Watching him grow and learn new things has been an amazing experience for me. I love kids, but I know one thing for sure, they are a lot of work and I’ll be waiting to have my own for a long time!”

“
Totally! Lacey can be quite a handful sometimes.”

The line moved fairly quickly at the Matterhorn, but I hardly noticed. Collin’s hand was still linked with mine; I could not get enough of the closeness. Every time he touched me, my stomach would turn topsy-turvy. Every nerve and all of my senses were on high alert. I felt alive and electrified, and I craved it more and more. Words were unnecessary; all we seemed to need was contact with each other.

Climbing into our bobsled, we ended up in the back car by ourselves. Collin climbed in first and I sat in front of him, leaning against his rock hard chest. His arms wrapped around me, and I nestled my hands on top of his. Soon we were off, climbing and twisting through the mountain. As it got cooler inside the artificial mountain, I was glad for Collin’s warmth radiating through my cotton T-shirt. When we whipped around another corner, the Abominable Snowman appeared, and a scream ripped from my throat. I could feel the ripple of laughter as his chest moved behind me. I had been on this ride so many times, yet today I’d forgotten about the big white beast with the bright red eyes. The ride came to an end and we climbed out, Collin jumping out first and pulling me out beside him. We walked toward the exit and then around the mountain toward where Eileen was waiting for us.

Suddenly Collin pulled me into the shadows at the back of the mountain where we were slightly shielded from those walking past. I caught the intense smoldering of his eyes as he leaned down, ever so gently, and completely took control of my lips in a breath-taking kiss. I was overwhelmed by the intensity as it burned through my body, feeling it all the way to the tips of my toes. My body felt like it would melt into a puddle on the ground. My arms took on a life of their own as they reached up behind his head and my hands twisted in his hair.

Slowly Collin pulled away, but with my arms still linked around his neck, he didn’t go far.

“
I’ve been wanting to do that from the moment I saw you today.”

“
You can do that anytime. I’m not complaining.”

Smiling, he pulled me next to him, and we started walking again, his arm slung around my lower back and settled comfortably at my waist. “We need to get back to Eileen before she wonders what happened to us.”

Eileen saw us approaching and got up to move the strollers. “Well, did you guys have fun?”

Damn, my body was so traitorous! As I felt the blood rush to my face, I knew Eileen would see through the blush for what it was. “Yes, but I forgot about the Abominable Snowman and practically shattered Collin’s eardrums screaming.”

She chuckled, “Don’t worry, that thing gets me every time. So, where to next? The kids will probably be out for a while longer. Do you want to ride Space Mountain? They will probably be up by the time you’re done, and we can eat at the pizza place that’s right there.”

Collin let go of my waist as he reached for Lacey’s stroller. “Sounds like a plan to me.”

“
Eileen, are you sure you want to sit and wait? Collin and I can always come back another day.”

“
You guys are going. There’s no reason not to.”

It didn’t take long to get over to Tomorrowland. Collin and I left Eileen with the strollers and walked toward the entrance for Space Mountain. We passed by a huge polished concrete ball, or maybe it was some type of stone. It was huge, probably close to five feet in diameter. It was nestled in a well of water with water pouring over it. Kids were running around it laughing as they pushed it. The massive sphere would spin in all directions almost as though it were weightless. I knew Riley and Lacey would get a kick out of playing with it.

Entering the line for Space Mountain, I remembered being terrified of the ride as a child, crying all the way through the line, begging my parents not to make me go on it. Most times I would get worked up into such hysteria that, by the time we got to the loading area, one of them would walk me through and wait for everyone else to ride. To this day, I don’t know why it frightened me so badly. Maybe it was the dark. I always had to have a night light on in my room when I was little. I pushed those memories aside. I didn’t want to think about my family or the past. I wanted to focus on today, now, this time with Collin.

As we weaved through the chains that outlined our path, working our way through the line, Collin stole kisses here and there. Standing on the bridge area, we looked down, watching as the shuttles were taking off. Collin had his arms around me, his chin nestled on the top of my head. I pulled out my camera and snapped a picture of us. Flipping the camera around, I checked the image on the back to make sure I didn’t cut our heads off in the picture as I so often did. It was perfect. The shot captured the smiles on both of our faces; the blue lights of the ride as our backdrop made the intensity of Collin’s eyes stand out even more vividly than usual. It was a keeper and would go into my scrapbook that I was beginning to put together.

We crept down the stairs until it was finally our turn to enter into the rocket ships and blast off into the darkness of the ride. The blackness was broken only by tiny sparkles of light as the ride sped along the track—up, down, side to side, the cold air breezing past my face. Way too quickly it was over, and we came to a screeching halt.

We exited the ride, and as we approached Eileen, I realized both Riley and Lacey were running around the large ball of stone, pushing it as it slid on its water base.

Lacey caught sight of Collin first. “Collin! Watch, I can move it all by myself!”

Proud of herself, Lacey pushed on the sphere, and it rolled to the right.

“
Wow, Lacey, that’s pretty cool.”

“
I can do it too!” Riley interjected as he pushed it to the left and the sphere shifted direction.

Eileen walked up. “Your timing is perfect. They’ve only been up for about ten minutes and have been completely entertained by this thing. Are you guys ready to eat?”

“
Yes!” Riley and Lacey answered in unison.

“
How about some pizza?”

“
Yes!” they both agreed. Who wouldn’t? You could never go wrong with pizza.

* * *

After dinner, we rode Autopia, the Finding Nemo Submarine, and Buzz Lightyear. Dusk had fallen, and the wind had started to pick up. Both Riley and Lacey seemed completely worn out. We decided it was time to call it a day and started walking back to the cars. As we moved through the park toward Main Street, we made one last stop at the castle to take some pictures. The lights had come on, and it was completely lit up. I felt like I was indeed a princess with my Prince Charming, in front of our castle, wishing that the magical day would never come to an end.

We returned Lacey’s stroller and exited the park. Reaching the World of Disney store, we went inside for some souvenirs to add to our Mickey ears. By the time we walked out of the store, each kid had a bag full. Both of them ended up with a package of Mickey Mouse lollipops, Lacey had selected a Tinkerbell T-shirt and a Nemo stuffed animal, while Riley’s choices were a Lightning McQueen T-shirt and a Buzz Lightyear spinning toy. I had found a white sleep shirt that had Mickey and Minnie on it kissing, the background a grid of interlinked gray hearts. It made me smile when I first saw it, and it would forever remind me of this trip with Collin.

Before we left the Disney experience altogether, we made one last stop at the ice cream shop, each of us getting an ice cream cone. After the creamy treats were finished, it was time to get on the tram. The tram ride back to the parking structure was unlike our trip in; everyone was silent. Lacey was leaning against Collin, and Riley was curled up in my lap, resting his head against my shoulder. Eileen maneuvered the stroller off the tram and unfolded it as Riley climbed back in.

“
Eileen, we’ll walk you guys up to your car. What level are you on?” Collin asked.

“
Mickey Mouse. Riley was quite pleased with that.”

“
We ended up on Daisy.”

Catching the elevator just before it shut, we all climbed in and rode it up to Mickey Mouse level. Eileen had gotten lucky so we had parked pretty close to the elevator. There were times I remember being here when I was younger and we’d ended up on the absolute farthest corner away from the escalators. Those were the days when the walk felt like it was miles, made worse when your feet were already aching from being on them all day.

Riley climbed into his car seat, and I figured he would be out before Eileen even got out of the parking structure. The stroller got loaded into the trunk, and I turned to say my goodbyes to Collin and Lacey.

“
Bailey, if you want to drive home with Collin, go. I’m good with Riley.”

“
It’s okay, Eileen, you don’t need to drive home by yourself.”

“
No, really, go.”

“
Are you sure? My car is at your house. I can help you get everything inside when I pick it up.”

“
That would be great. Now go. Thanks for coming with me, all of you. It would have been really hard for me to bring Riley by himself, and this was way more fun for him.”

Lacey quietly walked over to Eileen, and before anyone knew what she was doing, she threw her arms around Eileen’s legs in a big hug. “Thanks, Mrs. Howard.”

I could see the tears forming in Eileen’s eyes. “You bet, Lacey. You can call me Eileen okay? And we’ll have you come over soon to play with Riley, alright?”

“
Okay.” Lacey returned to Collin and grabbed his hand.

Giving Eileen a big smile, I thanked her and leaned in to kiss Riley goodbye. “’Night, buddy, I’ll see you later. Okay?”

“
Okay,” Riley murmured sleepily.

I walked with Collin and Lacey back to the escalators to the Daisy level. Collin had not been as lucky as Eileen, and though he was not parked quite at the farthest corner possible, it was close. Lacey was riding piggyback on Collin, and I did not blame her one bit, poor thing. Her little feet had traversed a lot of area today.

When we finally reached Collin’s car, I tossed our bags in the back while he helped Lacey get buckled in. As I’d expected. Lacey was asleep before we even got on the freeway. Collin pulled my hand in his, and they both rested over the console. We drove home with the music playing in the background, mostly quiet, with smoldering glances toward each other. Collin would occasionally squeeze my hand and then bring it up to his lips to kiss it softly. It could not have been a more perfect day.

CHAPTER SIX

I
t
was late, and I had just gotten home from spending the evening with Collin. Since our day at Disneyland, we’d spent some part of every day together. Like the previous nights, we had ended up at the lookout, sitting under the stars, talking and enjoying just being with each other. I was now curled up on my bed in my Disneyland sleep shirt. My window was open, and the breeze was slightly stirring the curtains.

I reached down to grab the book I’d been reading when my fingertips brushed along the edges of my journal. I slowly pulled it out. It had been so long since I had written anything in it. At one point, it had been a nightly ritual, something I loved to do. Writing had given me a freedom to just be myself, because it didn’t matter what I wrote. I could be as serious or silly as I wanted. I flipped the pages until I reached the last entry.